Impulse
by Kevorkian
Summary: The titans are no more. But when two are reunited, that is subject to change. BBxRae.


**Author's Note**

I have a _lot_ of ideas for stories. However, while I have three or so works in progress sitting on my hard drive, and a couple more in my notebook, I felt like doing another one. Ah well, I felt like it. Hopefully I'm not too compulsive.

I don't own Teen Titans, ToGo's, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Hummer, Porsche, Rammstein, Tier, or any other copyrighted content featured in this story.

**Prologue**

Several years ago, the team had broken up. To be more precise, they fell apart. Robin was entranced with Starfire, and his leadership skills waned. The two were always busy, doing something with each other, and it came to the point that they would even forgo battles, so long as their friends weren't in critical danger. Cyborg worked on the T-Car relentlessly, stopping only to eat and drive across the country to visit the Titans East, to "see how they were doing." That is, to see how Bumblebee was doing. Raven and Beastboy were always bickering, fighting over the most trivial things, and speaking daggers with words. The thing that ultimately set Beastboy off, however, was when Raven said that he was "an immature, illiterate, uneducated, weak waste of space on the team – below even Terra." The same night she said that, he left, and the team broke up.

Now, the last she had heard, Cyborg had opened a garage over in Steel City, and was going steady with Bumblebee. Robin and Starfire had moved to a reclusive village in the mountains, and nobody had any clue where Beastboy was. As for her, she had remained in Jump City, and opened an antique shop slash bookstore. They all received pensions from the city for their prior work, and she could conceivably track down the others if she wanted to, but she didn't bother – she was both afraid of what she might find, and of being rejected once she found them. So, she bided her time, wandering through life purposely, unsure of herself.

**Tier**

She woke up, and brushed the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes. Blinking a few times, she pulled back the covers, walked into the kitchen, and poured some water into a kettle to boil. Walking back into the bedroom, she made her bed, and dressed herself in the day's outfit. She wore comfortable, dirty white sneakers, long dark blue jeans, and a black long sleeve shirt underneath a comfortable black sweater. To top it all off, she wore a golden belt, reminiscent of her past. She glanced into the mirror, then strode off towards the kitchen, arriving just as the kettle began to whistle. Pulling it away from the stove as she turned it off, she pulled a cup from a low cabinet. Pouring the hot water into the cup, she added a bag of tea, and returned once again to her room. She grabbed her keys, and walked back to the kitchen. Grabbing her cup of tea, she walked out the door, and got into her car. It was the only impractical thing that she had – a Porsche 911.

Her house wasn't far from the store, just a mere five minute drive. She could have walked if she wanted to, but generally, she didn't feel like it. And besides, what's the point of splurging on a car if you're not going to drive it? She loved her reasoning.

She shut the door, and locked the car. Fumbling with her keys, she pulled out the correct one, and unlocked the door. Walking to the back, she walked around a counter, and flipped a light switch. Turning on the lone register, she placed her cup of tea on the counter, walked around, making sure nothing was disturbed. The store was in a good neighborhood –after all, that's why she chose the location- but she could never be too careful. Satisfied, she walked back to the counter, and picked up a book, opened it to the bookmark, and began reading.

She put the book down momentarily, to stretch and relieve her cramping muscles. A soft bell tinkled from the front of the store, and wondered who the first customer of the day would be. She couldn't directly see the front of the store from her position behind the counter, but she tried to guess based on the sounds the person was making. Based on the timing and sound of the footsteps, she guessed it was a man – a large one, too, but who was also stepping relatively softly, presumably to preserve the calm and quiet atmosphere. As he turned down an aisle towards her, she couldn't help but gasp. Her eyes widened at his appearance.

He was tall, easily six feet or more. He was wearing worn, tan boots, topped by dark green cargo pants, held in place by dual boot dresses. (1) His upper body was concealed behind a dark grey sweatshirt, with an eagle, globe, and anchor etched into the left breast. (2) He also sported a pair of thin black fingerless gloves, and he held a black beanie. What was most noticeable about him, however, was that his skin was green.

Hearing her gasp, he looked forward, and stopped eyeing the various items on display. Seeing her, his face clouded for a moment, then a curious expression crossed it, and he strode up to the counter. She stumbled over a single word. "B-Beastboy?"

"No one's called me that in years. Long time, no see Raven." His voice was slightly cold, but mostly emotionless. His facial expression was just as unreadable.

"I-It has indeed…why are you suddenly here?"

"To see how you're doing. In case you don't remember, I didn't exactly leave on a friendly note, and I was wondering if perhaps you've regretted what you said."

She remembered when he had left. She had thought about it almost every day, regretting it with all of her heart. "You know I didn't mean that, Beastboy. I was furious, I was out of line, I would have said anything."

"But you didn't say just _anything_, Raven."

"I….I know. And I'm…sorry. I truly didn't mean it. I wish I could take it back."

Seeming to accept this, he nodded. He glanced around the room, and gestured to everything. "Interesting. So how exactly did you become…this?" He looked back at her.

She sighed, and returned his gaze. "Well, I needed _something_ to do…and sitting around all month waiting for a pension check wasn't exactly my cup of tea, no pun intended. So, I asked myself, 'What do I like best?', and then it hit me: magical items and books. Well, most magical items are too dangerous to really be sold or even displayed, so I had to compromise, and settle for antiques in general. So, I opened up an antique slash book store, and setup shop. I don't get many customers, but the ones who do come here absolutely love it, and they bring me enough business to keep the store running. But, how about you? Since when are you that tall? And when did you start dressing like that?"

It was his turn to sigh. He looked away for a moment, then turned, and leaned against the counter. Staring at the wall, he said, "I took your words to heart the day I left. I set out to prove to myself that I could be mature, I could be literate, I could become educated, and that I was not weak. I joined the Marines, and they were my family for a couple of years. They made me strong, taught me tactics, and returned to me the sense of belonging I lost when I left." He sighed again. "Then, I went to a community college, getting paychecks from both the city and the Marines, and graduated with dual majors in Zoology and Foreign Language. Ever since then, I'd been working part time at both a veterinary clinic and as a translator. I also do occasional fundraisers for charity. And now, here I am today!" He motioned to himself as he turned back to face Raven.

She gaped. It was astounding, but the explanation fit perfectly with his new appearance and attitude. He saw her staring, and stared intently right back. She looked away, blushing. "I-I'm sorry. But it's just so…unlike you."

He smiled softly. "Yeah. I've changed everything about me. But I'm still green. I'm still a freak." He snorted, and shook his head. "Well, let's change the subject. Want to go out for lunch? We have a lot of catching up to do."

Taken back, she thought for a moment. "Sure. Business wasn't exactly booming today, anyway." She finished off the remnants of her now-cold tea, and set the cup down. She flipped off the lights, and walked to the front of the store behind him. She turned as she walked out, and locked the door. Looking around, she turned to him and raised a questioning eyebrow.

He chuckled softly. "Yeah. I gave up on the whole moped thing a while ago. Though of course, you should be one to talk, Ms. Porsche." He smiled, and walked over to open the passenger door of his hummer. She climbed in, and he shut the door after her. Walking around to the other side of the car, he got in, and started up the engine. She looked around the inside of the car. It had leather trimming, and was entirely black, from the black seats to the black, chrome plated pedals, to the dark tinted windows. She reveled in the darkness, and the comforting _feel _of the vehicle. He just drove, in silence, perfectly content to do nothing but drive. Though he wasn't being obvious about it, she could definetly tell that he was happy. Whether it was because he just loved driving, or because she had agreed to come with him she was unsure.

As the car slowed to a stop, she realized they were there. He got out of the car, and walked around to her side, as she tried to figure out where exactly they were. He opened the door, and helped her down from the large vehicle. She looked up at the sign of the place in front of them. It read, in green letters on a white background, "ToGo's". (3) She turned to him and was about to speak, but he cut her off. "It's really quite a good restaurant. Nice and casual, and has good food. Well, more of a deli/café really, the point is, it's a great place. We never really went anywhere other than the pizza parlor when we were part of the titans – this was a happy discovery for me when I was dodging old ghosts."

She walked in as he held the door for her, and looked around the place. It had an upbeat radio station playing at a volume somewhere between sufficient and annoyingly loud, but the combination of the music and the lighting, with a single green neon bar mounted on the ceiling, was enough to create a pleasant atmosphere. From the door, straight ahead was a line that led to a chest level counter on the left, behind which a few people were working. On the other side of the line, there was a carpeted eating area, for those that didn't want to eat outside. Beastboy joined her in line, and directed her attention to the menu hanging on the wall behind the counter. She finally made up her mind to get a simple turkey and cheese sandwich, just as they got to the counter. Beastboy smiled at her, and said, "You go first."

Peering over the counter, she placed her order. As the employee started to make her sandwich, and asked her the basic questions (what bread, what cheese, what condiments and/or produce), she answered his questions, and looked over to where the only other customers were eating. It was a guy and a girl, and they seemed to be chatting away happily to each other. She heard her sandwich being wrapped, then heard Beastboy speak. "I'll have the number 2, the ham and cheese."

She whirled around and stared at him accusingly. He smiled softly, then said, "I told you, I matured. The whole vegetarian thing was really quite childish, and I must admit, though I kept it a secret as long as I could, tofu's taste has nothing on meat." Turning back to the man behind the counter, he simply said, "American cheese and lettuce, light mayo. Nothing else." The sandwich maker merely nodded, and kept making the sandwich. As he finished and wrapped it, his buddy strode over to the register.

"What do you have?"

"A regular 2 and a regular 3." The sandwich maker started stuffing the sandwiches into a bag, along with a stash of napkins. The cashier punched in the two sandwiches, then turned to the ex-titans. "Anything else for you today? Chips, drinks?"

Beastboy turned to Raven. She turned to the cashier and said, "No chips for me, thanks, but I'll take an iced tea." The cashier nodded and looked to Beastboy.

"Make that two iced teas." The cashier turned back to the register, punched in the two items, and with a whir and clang, the receipt was printed and the cash drawer opened. Beastboy handed the cashier a twenty, and the sandwich maker handed him the bag of sandwiches. Beastboy waited for his change, then dumped it into the tip cup on the counter, nodded and smiled to the two workers, and walked outside with Raven, holding his drink and the sandwiches.

They sat at a shady table, and pulled the sandwiches out of the bag. Unwrapping one half, they sat and munched their food. Beastboy gazed into Raven's eyes, and she smirked and stared back. "So, if you don't go by Beastboy, what do you go by? I know you hate '_Garfield'_'", she said, with added emphasis on his hated moniker.

He cringed at the mention of his true name, but replied, "Well, it's not too long of a story, but it does have a bit of an explanation." She smiled and beckoned for him to go on, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Well, it all started when I was in the Marines. In the beginning, for the most part, I just went by "Logan", or "Green Machine". However, I didn't particularly care for those names. So, I was thinking of another name for myself, that didn't sound as juvenile as "Beastboy", but sounded less crude than "Green Machine"."

"Now, mind you, I knew everyone in my outfit pretty well – we lived and worked together, we didn't really have a choice. One of the things I picked up from one of the other guys was this German band called Rammstein. I absolutely loved their music, and so did a bunch of the guys in my outfit. Eventually, on a leave, we got a set of lyrics for their music, with translations. We spent so much of our time reading along with those lyrics during the songs, that we eventually memorized them, and learned various phrases and words in German." He chuckled. "Now, one of my favorite songs was called "Tier" – the name actually literally translated to "Animal". Knowing this, I absolutely had my sights set on the name – Tier, an ex-Teen Titan. What could have been a better name? So, I adopted it, and became known as Tier. In fact, later on, after I left the Corps, I was signing up for classes in the community college, and I thought, what the hell, a foreign language might be fun. Now, I had to pick which to sign up for. Remembering how much I had loved Rammstein in the Corps, and had even used one of their songs as a namesake, I decided to take German. Und jetzt spreche ich Deutsch." (4)

"Wow..." she murmured. "That's…incredible. I'm just boring old me, I haven't done anything interesting or exciting."

He put down his bottle of tea after he finished taking a drink. Looking deeply into her eyes, he said, "You've never been boring, Rae. You're probably the most interesting person I know."

Hearing this, she blushed, and looked away. "Uhm…I…"

"I'm sorry Raven." He got up and moved to her side of the table. "I'm sorry that things turned out the way they did. I'm sorry that the team fell apart, that we had that fight. But, Rae, this isn't about the past. This is about the future. We can have a new beginning. We can forget everything that happened in the past."

She bit her lip, and trembled. She started to cry. "No…I should be sorry. It was my fault for what happened. I was so…so stupid." She fell out of her chair into his arms. He embraced her warmly, comforting her.

They were both lost for words. After a few minutes, she pulled away. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, she looked at him and said, "Thank you, Beastboy. For everything."

**End**

– Ah, boot dresses are hard to explain. They're basically these stretchy little bands of fabric wit hooks on either end. You put them around the top of your boot, then roll your pants up, making an "inside cuff", with the boot dress to hold it in place. The cheaper alternative is a rubber band, but they don't work as well.

– The Eagle, Globe and Anchor, better known as the EGA, are the insignia of the U.S.M.C. It's a globe with a spread-winged eagle on top, and an anchor on the bottom. They signify the Marines' presence around the world, representing the U.S., and maritime operations, respectively.

– ToGo's is a real restaurant. It's "California Native", so unless you live in or visit California often, you've probably never heard of it. It's a lot like Subway (which I also don't own), but the food is a lot better. If you're ever in California, try it out.

– "And now I speak German." From my knowledge of German, that looks fairly correct, but I'm nowhere approaching fluent in German, so it's probably wrong.

This story doesn't really have a lot of feeling, be it anger or fluff. It also doesn't have a single usage of either of the two's powers, or any mention of the other titans (sans the prologue). In the next chapter, I'll probably add something like that. Reviews are always appreciated, as well as ideas for what's to happen.


End file.
